A Christmas Tail
by KidFlash13
Summary: Future!Batfam! Gotham City has a slow night of crime for once, and Damian is not pleased. This is dedicated to robindjtsd11, for the Secret Santa challenge.


It was a frosty winter night in Gotham City, and the Bat family was very thankful for their thermal wear. With only three days to go until Christmas, crime had slowed and left the city's vigilantes to catch cold in the shadows. Some citizens speculated that the night had become too colorful for the Dark Knight with all of the Christmas lights present in the city. Even the famous bat-signal had been given a festive touch with the addition of a Santa hat.

Of course, the Gothamites were wrong, and their heroes were waiting on the sidelines to help if they were needed. Damian, in particular, had become very fed up with standing around on guard duty. Nearly inaudible "tt"s came often as the brisk winds stung his bare forearms. He was used to moving, hearing his heart pound with the rush of blood as he took out family foes. Such stillness was unnatural, and it irked him to the point of pacing on the top of Wayne Enterprise.

Damian managed to convince Batman to let him sweep the area once more before returning to the Batcave. Woe to any enemies he found, and if not, worse to those that showed up the next day.

Steely eyes analyzed their assigned dominion, and relaxed when they registered nothing unfamiliar. However, they were shocked back into business mode with a large "thump" from a nearby alley.

Damian inwardly laughed, for this was an opportunity to make up for the endless hours he spent playing the waiting game. A mischievous half-grin found its way onto his face as he slunk into the shadows of the night and walked toward the alleyway.

Nothing seemed out of place; Damian could smell remnants of alcohol and other illegal substances, and of course the overwhelming scent of rank garbage coming from Gotham's emerald green dumpsters. All of a sudden, muffled rustling broke the silence of the alley. Something appeared to be hitting one of the dumpsters from the inside. Cautiously, with his cape pulled in front of his face in case of toxins, Damian lifted the lid of the problematic dumpster. He saw two red eyes, and backed away, only to see in the light of the moon that the creature he feared momentarily was only a cat.

The small, dark grey feline let out a pathetic mewl and hopped out of its garbage prison. It began to lick at its fur to clean itself.

"Tt. I don't blame you cat. Those containers are most foul." Damian sniffed, glancing at the hideous green plastic before returning his attention to the cat.

Somehow, he wasn't fully surprised to see its look of 'Oh, you don't say' directed at him. However, Damian's curiosity was piqued, and he inched slowly towards the creature, trying to keep it from running away.

From an arm's length, the boy could see that the cat had no tags, and that it looked malnourished. Upon closer investigation, after gaining the feline's trust, he found it to be male.

The inspections over, Damian realized that his father had been expecting him at home for far too long. He couldn't just leave the cat there though; his piercing stare seemed to go through Damian's soul. With a huff, the boy gathered the foul-smelling creature into his cape, and started back to Wayne Manor.

* * *

Bruce Wayne had been waiting for Damian to come home for two hours now. A sweep of the area should take at most fifteen minutes without any trouble, and the ride home would take another thirty.

Bruce heard the low rumble of the R-cycle, and paced over to his youngest son.

The first thing he noticed was Damian's nervous body language, followed by the abnormal lump in his outfit. There was also an unusual stench hanging around him that reeked suspiciously of rotten fish.

"What have you got there Robin?" he asked in a calm tone.

"Oh, this. Well father, I was thinking he could be the newest addition to the family."

"He?" the Dark Knight questioned.

The cat was taken out of the warmth of Damian's cape, to be shown in all his mangled glory. His eyes were still half-lidded with sleep, and his fur was matted with garbage and saliva.

"Oh. I see." There was a bit of an awkward silence as Damian's hopeful eyes met Bruce's slightly shocked ones. It wasn't everyday that his son showed affection.

"Well, I suppose he could stay the night, as long as you two get cleaned up."

"Thank you father." Damian grinned and took off up the stairs of the cave to draw baths for himself and his new friend.

* * *

The next morning, the Bat family had come back together in entirety, with Christmas being only two days away.

Of course, Dick was the first to notice Damian's companion, and cooed over the cat like it was a newborn baby. The feline went along with the newfound attention, and cuddled up to his new human.

"So, what's his name Damian?" Dick asked.

"Vengeance" the title was barely a whisper, and a light pink frosted the youngest Robin's cheeks. The cat perked up at his name, and crawled out of Dick's grasp to rub against Damian's legs.

"That's perfect!" Dick proclaimed.

"I don't know about that, we've already got one dangerous beast around here" Tim called from the hall as he entered the living room.

Vengeance hissed at the Red Robin, and continued to explore his new home. Finding only one new person to sniff, Vengeance padded over to Jason. He put one paw on the Red Hood's trousers, and tugged at them. Jason stooped down a bit, and Vengeance took the opportunity to leap onto the man's shoulders.

The look on Jason's face was priceless, and Dick was lucky enough to have gotten a picture of the precious moment.

"Well Drake, it seems the only one he doesn't like is you. Vengeance has good taste in people." Damian smirked as he strode to the kitchen to get breakfast. Vengeance hopped off of Jason's shoulder's to follow his companion.

* * *

"What do you think of Vengeance, Alfred?" Bruce inquired, while the boys were playing around in the living room.

"He and master Damian were made for each other, sir" the butler replied, gracing a knowing smile.

* * *

That Christmas, Damian was photographed with a genuine smile on his face as Vengeance received his first collar, although it could easily be said that the expression was due to the fresh facial scratch that Tim sported.

**Merry Christmas everyone! :) -KF13**


End file.
